


Gravity Vault 021

by RoboticSpaceCase



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Android Bill Cipher, Billdip Big Bang, M/M, fallout new vegas au, have fun reading, idk how else to tag this tbh, so like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 18:24:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14478555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoboticSpaceCase/pseuds/RoboticSpaceCase
Summary: When Dipper and Bill go out into the wasteland to explore, they find something very interesting and decide to investigate.





	Gravity Vault 021

**Author's Note:**

> Bloop here's a piece I did for the BillDip Big Bang! 
> 
> I worked with Lumi and she's done some amazing gifs for this here:  
> http://luminaxandra.tumblr.com/post/173608770529/the-collab-for-billdipbigbang-art-gifs-i-wanted
> 
> This was a really fun idea to work with, so I hope you like it. Don't forget to leave a comment if you did because fanfic writers are thirsty for comments and I am no exception lmao
> 
> Enjoy!~

“You can breathe here.”

Dipper promptly slid off his mask with the okay from Bill, taking in a gulp of air. The mask wasn’t always the most fun thing to wear, but in any new area, he had to pull it over his mouth just in case.

“Thanks,” he huffed, taking out his cantine. “How far to that hill over there?” Dipper tossed his head back and chugged the water before tucking it away again, making sure to note where the sun was in the sky. “I have enough water left for the journey there and back if it’s under a mile.”

“Three thousand seven hundred four feet until the hill,” Bill said in a lazy voice. “Are your fleshbag legs not getting tired yet? We’ve been walking for seven thousand nine hundred six feet. Your last rest was-”

“Bill,” Dipper laughed. “I know you’re programmed to check up on me, but I’m fine. I have enough rations and stamina for this, stand down.”

The android shrugged. “Don’t complain to me about sore feet, then. I don’t have ‘massage’ anywhere in my coding other than in the ‘definition’ portion.” He kicked the ground, the gray, barren dirt puffing up into a cloud around his foot. “At least everything around here is dead. It would be much harder to get through if there was all of that junk in the way.”

“That junk,” Dipper grunted as he started to walk again, “is stuff us humans need to survive. The junk that _we_ have been sent out to find. Now c’mon, let’s go stick our noses where they don’t belong for the sake of science,” he chuckled as he adjusted his goggles.

Bill followed Dipper in silence, probably keeping an eye and ear out for any signs of trouble. After freeing their colony from their vault, Ford had made him specifically for scouting and protecting his human companion, and Dipper happened to be the only one who ever wanted to go out and explore, so they had been friends ever since the brunet was old enough to go out on his own.

“If we find something interesting, I’ll give you a kiss. If I have to drag you out of a hoard of ghouls - _again_ \- I’m just going to shut off communication and carry you back so that I don’t get scolded. Again.”

Okay, so they had been a little more than friends as the years went on. Dipper couldn’t lie and say that he hadn’t grown fond of Bill’s AI system. After all the time they had spent together, he honestly didn’t see how Bill could be counted as anything other than human. Not counting the metal parts not covered by fake skin, that is.

Dipper just shook his head at the android, keeping up his pace until he was at the bottom of the hill. It looked odd, like it was only half a hill and the other side was nothing but a flat surface. It could’ve been from an explosion, but Dipper wasn’t so sure. He needed to investigate.

“Is there any radiation here?” he asked as he slid his mask back over his face and once more fixing his goggles. There was no way he was going to chance breathing in the area until he could see what was on the other side of the hill. There could be some sort of gross, disease-ridden thing, waiting to infect him.

“I’m not seeing anything that might harm you. I should probably go first, though. Your fleshy lungs might find some other reason to make you sick or die, and I am _not_ bringing your corpse back to Ford. He’d dismantle me on the spot.” Bill grabbed Dipper by the shoulder and carefully pushed him aside, taking cautious steps around the hill.

Dipper wasn’t very good with weapons - scared of them, actually - but he still carried a small pistol just in case. He pulled it from its holster and kept it aimed at the ground, ready to draw it should he need to. There were a lot of things that would try to kill people in the outside world, he had to be ready at all times.

Time stopped for Dipper as they rounded the side of the hill, his eyes growing wide as he realized what they had just found. The door had been broken open, hanging on the hinges and resting in a small patch of grass and flowers. Vines grew around it as if the foliage was trying to perfectly frame the entrance for anyone that should happen upon it.

“Th-the plants are coming from inside,” Dipper said quietly. He had never really seen many plants before, especially not _flowers._ They were so much prettier than any kind of picture could have ever made them out to be, and though he wished he could pick them all to bring back to their settlement, Dipper let them be.

“I’m guessing we’re going inside, then? Normally I wouldn’t let you because I’d get bitched at, but _something_ ripped the door off this vault, so there’s a good chance we’ll get to see a bunch of dead bodies! Or whatever killed them. Let’s hope this wasn’t a ghoul experiment vault or something like that.”

“Right,” Dipper nodded.

Their people had learned all about what vaults really were. Most, if not all, were just horrible experiments. Groups of people gathered together by fear of the nuclear fallout, trying to keep themselves and their families safe, exploited for “scientific gain”. They had learned that thanks to Ford, the one who dug for the truth and fought to free them from their own vault a few years before Dipper had even been born alongside his twin sister, Mabel.

“I’d say ladies first, but I think it’d be wisest for me to take a look,” Bill teased. His heavy feet crushed the thick vines and plant life as he walked through it all to the door, his eyes scanning the area with each step. “This is a lot of plants. It seems greenery was what this vault’s specialty was. Keyword _was._ I’m not really picking up anything but plant life as far as I can see. Still wanna go in, kid?”

“Definitely.” If the vault was empty of any people, Dipper could go in and hopefully find research on the plants there. They provided free, clean oxygen and bringing that kind of information back to Ford and the settlement could do big things for their people.

With Bill leading the way, the two entered the vault, still at the ready just in case. Bill luckily had a cybernetic eye that he was able to use as a light, so Dipper stayed close to the android as the outside world disappeared behind them into a thick darkness.

An eerie silence engulfed them the further in they got, their footsteps muffled by the overgrowth of plants beneath them. Dipper didn't think he'd ever see the inside of a vault, seeing as no one in the settlement had ever run into another one. Not that anyone other than Dipper and Bill ever went exploring.

“Seems very green,” Bill hummed, not impressed by the foliage.

“It's amazing,” Dipper gasped. He could only really see what was right in front of them, the rest of the world growing completely dark. The deafening silence certainly didn’t help ease his nerves and he found himself walking as close to Bill as he was able to.

The android laughed, the shrill sound echoing off the metal walls around them. “Scared?” he teased. “Don’t worry, this place might still have power. If we can get to the control room, I can plug in and see what this place has to offer. Hopefully, it’s something more interesting than these squishy plants.”

In the small space, Bill’s voice sounded much more robotic than it normally did to Dipper. He had gotten used to it in the years he knew him, but there it reminded him how inhuman it sounded. It made him all the more unsettled, though he knew for certain that Bill would never hurt him.

Once they were into the main part of the vault, Dipper looked back at the dot of light coming through the entrance, taking a deep breath before continuing on. He could be brave for the sake of science, and he had Bill there to help him if anything happened.

“The layout of this vault is similar to the one Ford had escaped from. Should we go straight to the control room, or do you wanna look for dead bodies?” Bill turned just his head back at Dipper, a large smile on the androids lips. They looked human enough, but behind them were razor sharp teeth that shined in the light coming from his eye. Didn't help that his head was backwards at the moment either.

Dipper nodded slowly, realizing that he had been staring at Bill’s lips. “Uh, no, definitely not the dead bodies. Control room first. Then we’ll look around a bit more for anything that might be worth taking. If there really is no one here then there’s no one to mind if we take some things.”

Bill nodded and fixed his head, pouting a bit when he was told he couldn’t go looking for any corpses. Dipper had no idea why Ford programmed him the way he did, or if Bill maybe just developed that way since he was a learning and growing AI, but he was going to be sure to check on the whole urge to look for dead people thing later.

Thick, untouched vines and roots came from cracks in the walls and smaller plants were coming through the floor, all flourishing despite the lack of sunlight. For them to be thriving in such an environment made Dipper curious about what kind of stuff they were doing to the plants, and he hoped their logs were still around so that he could check them.

“Control room in seventy feet. There’s a staircase down into it, so I won’t mind if you need to hold my hand.” Bill reached out for Dipper’s hand and wiggled his eyebrow, earning an eye roll from the brunet.

Dipper still took his hand, eager to have the comfort it offered. Bill may tease him, but he knew the android meant well and actually did want to help and make sure Dipper didn’t fall.

The two made it safely down the stairs, Bill having the cut some plants away at the bottom so they could make it to the door. It was slightly open, also broken off its hinges like the vault door had been. All these broken doors were starting to make Dipper wonder what had torn them off the hinges in the first place.

“None of this is going to kill me, right?” Dipper asked Bill once they were inside the control room.

“I’m not detecting any kind of poisons or harsh chemicals, no. There’s barely even any radiation here.” Bill made his way over to the terminal, plugging into it using his finger. “I’ll be just a moment. Watch my back.”

Dipper nodded, turning to face the door. He couldn’t really see anything, but his ears still picked up plenty. Smalls creaking sounds came from all around them, noises that Dipper could only hope were coming from the place just being old and in need of repair. In the darkness and silence, his mind started to play tricks on him and soon enough he was backing up against Bill and holding his breath, hoping the android would hurry.

“This place has just a little juice left,” Bill mumbled as the computer screen flickered to life.

A low hum filled the room, spreading out from beneath their feet and out of the room into the rest of the vault. With it came the sudden brightness of lights, filling the once black void around them and chasing away all of the invisible creatures Dipper’s mind had made up. There was no doubt that the lights were made to act like artificial sunlight, and he wondered for a moment if the plants would enjoy it or hate it.

“Are there any logs on that thing?” Dipper turned around to face Bill, not shocked to see that the wall in front of them had thick, flowered vines spilling over it like a waterfall of greenery. It was actually kind of pretty, and Dipper really wished they could have something like that back at the settlement.

“Eh, only a few.” Bill faced Dipper and waved his hand back and forth. “Whatever there was is now safely stored in me. If you want, we can explore some more and check for more terminals.” He leaned against the wall, not minding how much he sank into the plants. “Or we could relax here for a moment. We rarely get time like this alone where there’s no chance of anyone seeing us.”

Dipper swallowed thickly, his cheeks burning a bright red. No one knew that he and Bill were a lot closer than either of them would ever admit. Most of them would find it odd that he liked kissing Bill, or that the android had developed some form of feelings for him as well. Not that his AI could really process emotions like Dipper could, but it still felt real to him and he did enjoy it a lot. He just couldn’t tell anyone about it.

“Aw, c’mon, I saw you looking at my lips earlier. Does my silicone get you all worked up?” Bill laughed and pushed himself off the wall, moving closer to Dipper. He put the hand with fake skin on Dipper’s cheek, pulling the human closer. “Your flesh is pretty cool too.”

“Thanks,” Dipper snorted. Leaning into Bill’s touch, Dipper let out a content sigh. He was in a beautiful place and he was alone with Bill, the perfect setting for a romantic moment. “Do you remember how to kiss?” he teased.

Bill stuck his tongue out at Dipper then pulled him in for a careful kiss, never pushing for anything further than that. He could learn a lot more than just kissing, but Dipper always just kept it at that. It was such a soft, delicate action and he never wanted to change that.

“Your lips seem dry. Your water intake-”

“Is fine,” Dipper stopped him. “Why do you always gotta ruin the moment with updates on my body?” he laughed.

“Isn’t that how humans flirt? Body updates and touching? Am I not doing it right?”

Dipper opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by a loud clanking sound coming from behind them, outside of the control room. “I-I thought you said there weren’t any other life forms here?”

Silence fell over them once more, but it was brief and again there was another noise, that one accompanied by a weird growl.

“There aren’t,” Bill said as he stepped in between Dipper and the door. “There are only plants.”

“Plants are _living,_ Bill,” Dipper huffed. “They count. Especially big ones that might possibly be carnivorous. I’ve read something once that said some plants aren’t just hungry for sunlight.” He grabbed his gun again, keeping it at his side as he moved closer to Bill. “It might be best to go and get backup and come search for more information later.”

“Well _sorry_ Ford didn’t program me to look for flesh-eating plants.” Bill shook his head and started to make his way out of the room, his body tense and ready to fight something should Dipper need him to.

Dipper ignored Bill’s sass and followed him closely. Things got weirdly quiet again and he was just waiting for something to jump out and attack them. He would have to be careful not to get too trigger happy and shoot at nothing but the walls.

The two made it about halfway out before there was another growl, that time much closer. It left Dipper shaking, his heartbeat pounding in his ears as he frantically looked around the room, his gun pointing at everything and anything other than Bill.

“Wha-what it is, I don’t see it,” he panted.

Bill shrugged, putting his metal hand on Dipper’s shoulder. “Let’s just get out of here. Fast.” He started to move Dipper along but stopped dead in his tracks, lifting his arm and firing the weapon inside of it at the ground.

The sound of gunshots in the closed space made Dipper’s ears ring and he couldn’t move to cover them because of his own gun still in his hand. “Good fuck! Bill, what the Hell?”

“The plants!” Bill grabbed his shoulder again, yanking Dipper away from an outstretched, green hand just as it was about to grab him. “It seems we found where he humans in this vault went.”

“Less talking more shooting, please!” Dipper fired his gun at the hand, his eyes finally noticing the human-like creatures crawling on the ceiling, walls, and floor. Their backs all had plants growing out of them and their skin looked like the epidermis of a cactus, smooth but bumpy. Dipper didn’t dare get too close to them to find out if he was right about that. He even pulled his mask back on, just in case they could poison him. He shot the creature closest to him, looking to Bill for a way out.

“Bullets aren’t working very well. I’m going to clear a path and you need to run behind me.” Bill grabbed Dipper’s hand, holding it tightly and tugging him along as he shot wildly at things Dipper’s eyes couldn’t really see.

All of the creatures blended into the greenery around them, and Dipper wished that he could’ve learned more about the place before he was being chased out of it by hissing and growling plant creatures.

They made it through one of the last doors before the main exit to the vault, Dipper shooting behind them as they went in hopes of scaring them off so that they wouldn’t follow them outside of the vault.

“We have to close this place off!” he said as Bill closed the door to buy them some time. “I-I know it sucks to lose the information, but I can’t keep running and we can’t let those things out into the world. We’re not _that_ far from the town and they could easily follow us there.”

Bill waved a hand at him, continuing to push him out of the vault. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll help save the rest of you meatsacks after I get you out of here.” He stopped at the terminal there, typing inhumanly fast before bolting away from it, making sure Dipper was close behind.

Dipper nearly tripped over some of the roots in the ground as they ran through the tunnel to the main door, barely managing to keep himself up thanks to Bill grabbing his hand once more. “What’re you going to do?” he asked once they were back outside.

“Seal the door.” Bill moved quickly, picking up the vault door just enough to pop it back into place, then the computer on the inside did the rest and sealed it shut.

There was no way those things were smart enough to get it to reopen, and it would run out of power soon anyway, so they were successfully stuck and away from the outside world.

“A few of them have probably already gotten out,” Dipper said as he carefully looked over the plant life surrounding them. “Let’s just get the Hell out of here and warn everyone when we get back home.”

The world seemed a little quieter to Dipper as they walked away from the vault, an unwelcome sadness settling over him. They had just lost so much information, and those poor people that had been subjected to that horrible testing were probably suffering in some way. As horrible as it felt, Dipper kind of hoped he had at least put a few of them out of their misery.

A little over halfway to home, Bill nudged Dipper’s shoulder. “Drink some water. And stop looking so down. Not all of the files were lost, and at least we know the place is there now. We could very well have saved an innocent person from wandering in there and getting themselves killed.”

“Yeah… You’re right.” Dipper sigh, taking off his mask again now that they were far enough away from the vault. “That awful research doesn’t need to be out in the new world anyway. We can definitely live as a species without turning into creepy plant monsters,” he said after taking a drink like Bill had told him to.

“Exactly.” Bill offered Dipper a toothy smile, one that Dipper kept in his mind for the rest of their trek back home.

It was odd that Bill was just an android with no real human emotions but was still able to know just what to say to make Dipper feel better. He couldn’t help but wonder at that point where the line between living, organic consciousness and AI learning conscious was drawn. There was no way he was about to ask Ford, or his great-uncle might ask too many questions about why he wanted to know.

By the time they made it back into town, Dipper was exhausted. He didn’t pay any mind to the people milling about, wandering from rusty house to barely-standing business. The dirt beneath his feet was all he cared to focus on, and anyone who saw him was just used to it by that point.

“Dipper, my boy, you look as if you’ve run across the desert. Are you alright?” Ford greeted them as soon as they walked into the shack his family lived in, looking over Dipper first before turning his attention to Bill. “Report.”

“We explored several miles west of the settlement. We came across another vault. Inside we found a terminal and I was able to extract a couple of files about what the purpose of the vault was. As we left we encountered some plant-like creatures that attempted to attack us. I got Dipper out of there then sealed the vault from the inside.” Bill looked bored while he rattled off what happened, not even bothering to really look right at Ford.

Ford crossed his arms over his chest. “I programmed you to be more specific than that. And you two went _inside?_ What were you thinking?”

“Yeah, well, I feel like I’m about to overheat and - not that I can feel pain - but I think my feet are about to literally fall off. We ran and walked a lot, give us a break.” Bill waved his hand around, walking over to Ford’s own terminal and plugging into it. He stood there silently for a moment before moving away again. “There you go, all of the files I snagged. Can we go rest now? I need a restart.”

The older man gave them a skeptical look, but it wasn’t long at all before he gave in, just as excited to see the new files as Dipper thought he would be. “Fine. Go upstairs and relax for a while. Make sure Dipper doesn’t need any first aid, _then_ you can do whatever you need to do.”

Bill pretended to tip a hat at Ford then turned on his heels and headed for Dipper’s room. The brunet wasn’t far behind, more than ready for sleep.

“You think he’ll try to get more out of us when we come back down?” Dipper asked as soon as they were alone. He started to take off the clothing he no longer needed, placing his mask and goggles carefully on his desk.

“Not if those files are interesting. He’ll be busy with them for hours, and Mabel and Stan are out of the house for a while.” Bill sat on the bed, his weight bringing forth a whine from the frame of it. “Which means we have some time to spend with each other. I have something for you.”

Dipper finished taking his excess clothing off, save for his lucky hat, before joining Bill on the bed, glad that their shack was made of wood and not metal. He wasn’t a huge fan of leaning against loud, rusty walls. “Oh? If it’s a bug again, I don’t want it.”

Bill laughed, shaking his head. He began to play music, a slow but loud melody that he knew Dipper liked. “Close, but no.” He lifted his shirt, exposing his cluster of wires and metal frame. There was some fake skin to be seen there, but not enough to hide most of the mess he consisted of. Tucked between some of his cords was a blue flower, its color a stark contrast compared to the mostly dull world around them.

“W-what? When did you grab that? Is it safe?” Dipper leaned away from it, not wanting to touch it until Bill promised that it was okay too.

“I grabbed it before we went inside the vault. I just noticed how enthralled you were with them, and I know you enjoy the color blue, so I picked this one.” He offered it to Dipper again, letting his shirt fall back over his stomach. “It’s perfectly safe.”

Hesitantly, Dipper took the flower and examined it. Its petals were soft and the stem was short, a tiny thing that most people around this place wouldn’t even blink at. But it was possibly one of the most beautiful things Dipper had ever seen. “This- I- Thank you, Bill.” He smiled up at the android, leaning closer to him so that their arms were touching. “And thanks for saving me, too.”

“No big deal. It wasn’t really hard at all,” Bill hummed. He put an arm around Dipper’s shoulders, pulling him a little closer. “It’s good that you like it. You should get some rest before you drag me out on some other dangerous adventure.”

Dipper chuckled softly, nodding his head. “Yeah, I’ll do that. Wake me up in an hour, okay?”

“You got it.”

Once he was comfortable against Bill, Dipper allowed himself to put his guard down and sleep. Bill may not have been able to experience human emotions the same way Dipper did, but at that moment the brunet didn’t care. They were together and he was happy, so to him, that was all that really mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a ton of fun, I really love this idea, though I'll probably never do much more with it RIP
> 
> Anyway, like I said, feel free to comment, it always drives me to work that much faster on things! :)
> 
> Thanks so much for reading!


End file.
